Rachel Reeves vows to fix the economy so families everywhere are better off

08 July 2024 , 06:12

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Rachel Reeves says she’ll make every Brit better off ( Image: Lauren Hurley / No 10 Downing Street)

In her first speech as Chancellor, Rachel Reeves will warn that £58billion extra could have been pumped into NHS and schools last year if the Tories had achieved growth

Rachel Reeves today will vow to fix the economy so families in every corner of the country are better off.

In her first speech as Chancellor, she will warn that £58billion extra could have been pumped into public services such as the NHS and schools last year if the Tories had achieved growth. 

Setting out her plan to get Britain booming, the Labour minister will say there is “no time to waste” on delivering change. She will pledge to take the “difficult decisions to deliver growth” as she reverses “the legacy of 14 years of chaos and economic irresponsibility”.

Examples of difficult decisions include sorting the planning system so the country gets building. Labour has said it will reinstate housebuilding targets. 

Ms Reeves is on a mission to kickstart the economy after years of stagnation under the Conservatives. After she was appointed by Keir Starmer on Friday, she said it was the “honour of my life” to be put in charge of the nation’s finances. She is the first woman in history to hold the job.

Rachel and Ellie Reeves will be the first sisters to sit around the Cabinet table ( Image: PA)

Ms Reeves, who attended a comprehensive school in south east London, has told Treasury officials she will judge her time in office a success if “at the end of it there are working-class kids from ordinary backgrounds living richer lives, their horizons expanded, and their potential realised”. 

In a speech to business leaders in London today, she will say: “Last week, the British people voted for change. And over the past 72 hours I have begun the work necessary to deliver on that mandate. “Our manifesto was clear: ‘Sustained economic growth is the only route to improving the prosperity of our country and the living standards of working people’.

“Where governments have been unwilling to take the difficult decisions to deliver growth – or have waited too long to act – I will deliver. It is now a national mission. There is no time to waste.”

Ms Reeves will pledge to “fix the foundations of our economy, so we can rebuild Britain and make every part of our country better off”. She will add: “We face the legacy of 14 years of chaos and economic irresponsibility. New Treasury analysis I requested over the weekend exposed the opportunities lost from this failure.

“Had the UK economy grown at the average rate of OECD economies since 2010, it would have been over £140billion larger. This could have brought in an additional £58 billion in tax revenues last year alone to sustain our public services. It falls to this new Government to fix the foundations.”

The Chancellor and her sister Ellie Reeves, who has been promoted to Labour Party Chair, will be the first sisters to sit around the Cabinet table.

Keir Starmer met Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar in Edinburgh ( Image: Getty Images)

Her speech today comes as Mr Starmer continues his tour of the four nations of the UK. After visiting Edinburgh yesterday, the PM flew to Belfast last night. Today, he will attend Stormont where he will meet the First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly. He will then head to Wales for the final leg of his whistlestop tour. 

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson today will write to the country’s teachers as she begins a recruitment drive. Labour has promised to bring in 6,500 new teachers.

Ms Phillipson last night said: “From day one, we are delivering the change this country demands and putting education back at the forefront of national life. We will work urgently to recruit thousands of brilliant new teachers and reset the relationship between government and the education workforce.

“For too long the teaching profession has been talked down, sidelined and denigrated. I have made it my first priority to write today to the people at the centre of making change happen: our workforces. I want all children to have the best life chances which means recruiting and keeping great teachers in our classrooms – today is the first step in that mission.”

Thomas Brown